Port St. Lucie man takes on challenge for Green Berets

At 8 a.m. Nov. 29, Port St. Lucie resident Michael Shelly will start hiking 40 miles from Hobe Sound to Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens. To learn why, visit Ruckacrossamerica.com for information on Ruck Across America or the GORUCK Challenge. Visit Greenberetfoundation.org to donate to the Green Beret Foundation.

Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers

PORT ST. LUCIE — Michael Shelly will hike 40 miles on the Treasure Coast carrying a 45-pound rucksack next month as part of an epic cross-country event to raise money for the Green Beret Foundation.

The 29-year-old Port St. Lucie resident will take on his part of the GORUCK challenge in Hobe Sound, starting at 8 a.m. Nov. 29 and hiking south to Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens.

The challenge, organized by former Special Forces troops to benefit injured or fallen Green Berets and their families, began in Coronado, Calif., on June 22, and will finish in Fort Carson, Colo., in February, with a dip into Florida in November.

Shelly is not a veteran, but got involved in GORUCK events, which are held almost every weekend year-round, because he has become addicted to endurance sports.

"I gained a lot of weight from sitting on the couch, so I wanted to get into shape," Shelly said. "So I picked a half-marathon, I got to it and I felt pretty good, so I asked what else is there. So I did a full marathon, so what's next? I came across a website called GORUCK, so that is what got me started."

Shelly did his first GORUCK class April 6 in Tampa and survived the 12-hour day that began at 1 a.m. and included more than two hours of fierce physical training with sit-ups, pushups and other exercises — all done with a 45-pound rucksack and "in and out of the water, so you're nice and cold and wet all the time."

"Then we did a 10-mile forced march into downtown Tampa Bay. That was a lot of fun," he said.

Shelly then went to Richmond, Va., and on Nov. 17 will do a double challenge — two back-to-back events — in Fort Lauderdale. His participation in GORUCK events has raised about $3,000 for the Green Beret Foundation to date. He said he hopes people will donate in his name when they see him hiking through Hobe Sound.

"I never really ask for money, but if they want to donate, they do, so I am making a fundraising event and some hotels in Palm Beach County are donating rooms, LA Fitness is donating a membership I can raffle off too," he said.

GORUCK, which has raised about $250,000 since 2010, is open to anyone at any age and is designed to teach civilians what the U.S. military elite know, according to leader Lou Lepsch.

"It gets them to function as a team, and to take care of the person to the left and right of you," Lepsch said. "We're always teaching that if somebody makes a mistake, we'll point it out not to pick on them but to help them. ... "It's about learning."